Patent Application
20210067064
The present invention is directed to a series of methods and systems for creating and using asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity power generator systems to isothermally utilize environmental heat energy to generate electricity to do useful work.
The newly developed proton-electrostatics localization hypothesis in understanding proton-coupling bioenergetics over the Nobel-prize work of Peter Mitchell's chemiosmotic theory (Lee 2012 Bioenergetics 1:104; doi:10.4172/2167-7662.1000104; Lee 2015 Bioenergetics 4: 121. doi:10.4172/2167-7662.1000121) resulted in the following new protonic motive force (pmf) equation that may potentially represent a major breakthrough advance in the science of bioenergetics:
Where Δψ is the electrical potential difference across the membrane; R is the gas constant; T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin (K); F is the Faraday constant; pHnB is pH of the cytoplasmic (negative n side) bulk phase; [H+pB] is the proton concentration in the periplasmic (positive p side) bulk aqueous phase such as in the case of alkalophilic bacteria; C/S is the specific membrane capacitance; l is the thickness for localized proton layer; KPi is the equilibrium constant for non-proton cations (Mi+pB) to exchange for localized protons; and [Mi+pB] is the concentration of non-proton cations in liquid culture medium (Lee 2015 Bioenergetics 4: 121. doi:10.4172/2167-7662.1000121).
The core concept of the proton-electrostatics localization hypothesis is based on the premise that a biologically-relevant water body, such as the water within a bacterium, can act as a proton conductor in a manner similar to an electric conductor with respect to electrostatics. This is consistent with the well-established knowledge that protons can quickly transfer among water molecules by the “hops and turns” mechanism. From the charge translocation point of view, it is noticed that hydroxyl anions are transferred in the opposite direction of proton conduction. This understanding suggests that excess free protons in a biologically-relevant water body behave like electrons in a perfect conductor. It is well known for a charged electrical conductor at static equilibrium that all extra electrons reside on the conducting body's surface. This is expected because electrons repel each other, and, being free to move, they will spread out to the surface. By the same token, it is reasonable to expect that free excess protons (or conversely the excess hydroxyl anions) in a biologically-relevant water body will move to its surface. Adapting this view to excess free hydroxyl anions in the cytoplasm (created by pumping protons across the cytoplasm membrane through the respiratory redox-driven electron-transport-coupled proton transfer into the liquid medium outside the cell), they will be electrostatically localized along the water-membrane interface at the cytoplasmic (n) side of the cell membrane such as in the case of alkalophilic bacteria. In addition, their negative charges (OH−) will attract the positively charged species (H+) outside the cell to the membrane-water interface at the periplasmic (p) side.
That is, when excess hydroxyl anions are created in the cytoplasm by the redox-driven proton pump across the membrane leaving excess protons outside the cell, the excess hydroxyl anions in the cytoplasm will not stay in the bulk water phase because of their mutual repulsion. Consequently, they go to the water-membrane interface at the cytoplasmic (n) side of the membrane where they then attract the excess protons at the periplasmic (p) side of the membrane, forming an “excess anions-membrane-excess protons” capacitor-like system. Therefore, the protonic capacitor concept is used to calculate the effective concentration of the ideal localized protons [HL+]0 at the membrane-water interface in a pure water-membrane-water system assuming a reasonable thickness (1) for the localized proton layer using the following equation:
where C/S is the membrane capacitance per unit surface area; F is the Faraday constant; κ is the dielectric constant of the membrane; ϵo is the electric permittivity; d is the thickness of the membrane; and l is the thickness of the localized proton layer. This proton-capacitor equation [2a] is a foundation for the newly revised pmf equation [1], which includes an additional term that accounts for the effect of non-proton cations exchanging with the localized protons.
By rearranging Eq. 2a, we can also solve for the membrane potential Δψ in terms of the ideal localized excess proton population density [HL+]0 and the membrane capacitance properties including parameters such as the membrane capacitance per unit surface area C/S; the Faraday constant F; the membrane dielectric constant κ; the electric permittivity ϵo; the membrane thickness d; and the localized proton layer thickness l. Accordingly, the membrane potential Δψ can now be expressed as a function of the effective concentration of the ideal localized protons [HL+]0 at the membrane-water interface in an idealized pure water-membrane-water system using the following equation:
From this equation [2b], it is now quite clear that it is the accumulation of excess protons and the resulting ideal localized proton density [HL+]0 that essentially builds the membrane potential Δψ in proton-coupling bioenergetics systems.
Recently, using nanoscale measurements with electrostatic force microscopy, the dielectric constant (κ) of a lipid bilayer was determined to be about 3 units, which is in the expected range of 2˜4 units (Grames et al, Biophysical Journal 104: 1257-1262; Heimburg 2012 Biophysical Journal 103: 918-929.). Table 1 lists the calculation results for localized protons for an idealized pure water-membrane-water system with Eq. 2a using a lipid membrane dielectric constant κ of 3 units, membrane thickness d of 4 nm, trans-membrane potential difference Δψ of 180 mV, and three assumed values for the proton layer thickness of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 nm.
As shown in Table 1, the ideal localized proton density per unit area was calculated to be 1.238×10−8 moles H+/m2. The calculated effective concentration of ideal localized proton) ([HL+]0) was in a range from 8.25 mM to 24.76 mM if the localized proton layer is around1.0±0.5 nm thick. The calculated effective pH of localized proton layer (pHL0) was 1.61, 1.91, and 2.08 assuming that the ideal localized proton layer is 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5-nm thick, respectively. This calculation result also indicated that localized excess protons may be created at a water-membrane interface for possible industrial applications such as acid-etching of certain metals and/or protonation of certain micro/nanometer materials without requiring the use of conventional acid chemicals such as nitric and sulfuric acids.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO2017/007762 A1 discloses a set of methods on creating electrostatically localized excess protons to be utilized as a clean “green chemistry” technology for industrial applications and, more importantly, as a special energy-renewing technology process to isothermally utilize environmental heat through electrostatically localized protons at a liquid-membrane interface for generation of local protonic motive force (equivalent to Gibbs free energy) to do useful work such as driving ATP synthesis. The discovery of this isothermal protonic environmental-heat-utilization energy-renewing process without being constrained by the Second Law of Thermodynamics may have seminal scientific and practical implications for energy and environmental sustainability on Earth. Further development and extension from this fundamental science and engineering breakthrough to the other fields such as the electron-based systems for energy renewal is highly desirable.
As inspired by the discovery that environmental heat energy can be isothermally utilized through electrostatically localized protons at a liquid-membrane interface to do useful work such as driving ATP synthesis, the present invention discloses a series of methods on the creation and use of asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator systems for isothermal electricity production by isothermally utilizing environmental heat energy which is also known as the latent (existing hidden) heat energy from the environment without requiring the use of conventional energy resources such as a high temperature gradient. A special energy-recycling and renewing technology is provided with the associated methods and systems to extract environmental heat energy including molecular and/or electron thermal motion energy for producing isothermal electricity to do useful work, which may have seminal scientific and practical implications for energy and environmental sustainability on Earth.
The present invention specially discloses an energy renewal method for generating isothermal electricity with making and using a special asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity power generator system in combinations of utilizing gravity, a bias voltage at a low work function thermal electron emitter and positive surface charge groups at a high work function electron collector comprising at least one pair of a low work function thermal electron emitter and a high work function electron collector across a barrier space installed in a container (such as a vacuum tube, bottle or chamber) with electric conductor support to enable a series of energy recycle process functions with isothermal utilization of environmental heat energy for at least one of: a) utilization of environmental heat energy for energy recycling and renewing of fully dissipated waste heat energy from the environment to generate electricity with an output voltage and electric current to do useful work; b) providing a novel cooling function for a new type of freezer/refrigerator without requiring any of the conventional refrigeration mechanisms of compressor, condenser, evaporator and/or radiator by isothermally extracting environmental heat energy from inside the freezer/refrigerator while generating isothermal electricity; and c) combinations thereof.
According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the present invention teaches the making and using of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron-based power generator system that has a low work function (0.7 eV) Ag—O—Cs emitter and a high work function Cu metal (4.56 eV) collector installed in a chamber-like vacuum tube comprising: an Ag—O—Cs film coated on the dome-shaped top end inner surface of the chamber-like vacuum tube to serve as the emitter; a vacuum space allowing thermally emitted electrons to fly through ballistically between the emitter and collector; a Cu film coated on the inversed-dome-shaped bottom end inner surface of the chamber-like vacuum tube to serve as the collector; a first electricity outlet (such as an electric conductive wire and/or lead) connected with the emitter; and a second electricity outlet connected with the collector.
According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the present invention teaches the making and using of an integrated isothermal electricity generator system that has a narrow inter electrode space gap size for each of three pairs of emitters and collectors installed in a vacuum tube chamber set up vertically comprising: a low work function film coated on the first electric conductor plate bottom surface to serve as the first emitter; a first narrow space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically between the first pair of emitter and collector; a high work function film coated on the second electric conductor top surface to serve as the first collector; a low work function film coated on the second electric conductor bottom surface to serve as the second emitter; a second narrow space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically between the second pair of emitter and collector; a high work function film coated on the third electric conductor top surface to sever as a collector; a low work function film coated on the third electric conductor bottom surface to serve as the third emitter; a third narrow space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically between the third pair of emitter and collector; a high work function film coated on the fourth electric conductor top surface to serve as the terminal collector, a first electricity outlet (wire) and an Earth ground that are connected with the first electric conductor plate; and a second electric outlet (wire) that is connected with the fourth electric conductor.
According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the effect of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity production is additive. Pluralities (n) of asymmetrically function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems may be employed in parallel and/or in series. When a plurality (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems are used in parallel, the total steady-state electrical current (Ist(total)) is the summation of the steady-state electrical current (Ist(i)) from each of the asymmetrically function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems while the total steady-state output voltage (Vst(total)) remains the same. Conversely, when a plurality (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems operate in series, the total steady-state output voltage (Vst(total)) is the summation of the steady-state output voltages (Vst (i)) from each of the asymmetrically function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems while the total steady-state electrical current (Ist(total)) remains the same.
According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the present invention teaches the making and using of an integrated isothermal electricity generator system that employs three pairs of exceptionally low work function Ag—O—Cs (0.5 eV) emitters and high work function Au metal (5.10 eV) collectors working in series comprising: an Ag—O—Cs film coated on the dome-shaped top end inner surface of the vacuum tube chamber to serve as the first emitter that has an electricity outlet; a first vacuum space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically across the first pair of emitter and collector; a Au film coated on the first middle electric conductor top surface to serve as the first collector; an Ag—O—Cs film coated on the first middle electric conductor bottom surface to serve as the second emitter; a second vacuum space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically across the second pair of emitter and collector; an Au film coated on the second middle electric conductor top surface to serve as the second collector; an Ag—O—Cs film coated on the second middle electric conductor bottom surface as the third emitter; a third vacuum space allowing thermally emitted electrons to flow through ballistically across the third pair of emitter and collector; and an Au film coated on the inversed-dome-shaped bottom end inner surface of the vacuum tube chamber to serve as the terminal collector connected with an electricity outlet.
According to another one of the exemplary embodiments, the present invention teaches the making and using of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator system that has a pair of an exceptionally low work function Ag—O—Cs (0.5 eV) emitter and a high work function graphene (4.60 eV) collector is employed to provide cooling for a new type of novel freezer/refrigerator by isothermally extracting environmental heat energy from inside the freezer/refrigerator while generating isothermal electricity.
The present invention discloses a series of methods on the creation and use of asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator systems for isothermal electricity production by isothermally utilizing latent (existing hidden) heat energy from the environment without requiring the use of conventional energy resources such as a high temperature gradient.
Accordingly, a special energy-recycling and renewing technology is disclosed with the associated methods to extract environmental heat energy including molecular and/or electron thermal motion energy for producing isothermal electricity to do useful work, which may have seminal scientific and practical implications for energy and environmental sustainability on Earth. Specially, the present invention discloses an energy renewal method for generating isothermal electricity with making and using a special asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity power generator system, in combinations of utilizing gravity, a (negative) bias voltage at a low work function thermal electron emitter and positive surface charge groups at a high work function electron collector, comprising at least one pair of a low work function thermal electron emitter and a high work function electron collector across a barrier space installed in a container such as a bottle with electric conductor support to enable a series of energy recycle process functions with utilization of environmental heat energy isothermally for at least one of: a) utilization of environmental heat energy for energy recycling and renewing of fully dissipated waste heat energy from the environment to generate electricity with an output voltage and electric current to do useful work; b) providing a novel cooling function for a new type of freezer/refrigerator without requiring any of the conventional refrigeration mechanisms of compressor, condenser, evaporator and/or radiator by isothermally extracting latent energy from inside the freezer/refrigerator while generating isothermal electricity; and c) combinations thereof.
Philosophically, this invention is inspired by the scientific discovery work associated with localized excess protons disclosed by the inventor in WO2017/007762 A1 and US 2017/0009357 A1, where it was revealed that environmental heat also known as latent (existing hidden) heat energy can be isothermally utilized through electrostatically localized protons at a liquid-membrane interface to do useful work in driving the synthesis of ATP (as shown in
According to one of the various embodiments, this electron-based energy renewal method teaches how to isothermally extract environmental heat energy to generate electricity by teaching the making and using of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron-based power generator such as the asymmetric electron-gated system 1000 illustrated in
Therefore, according to one of the various embodiments, the barrier space 1004 comprises a vacuum space that has no electric conductive materials and/or molecules with molecular orbital-associated electric conduction bands but allows the thermally emitted electrons to fly and/or flow through ballistically. The asymmetric electron-gating function 1003 effectively allows freely emitted thermal electrons 1005 to ballistically fly predominantly from the electric conductor (emitter) 1001 through the barrier space 1004 to the electric conductor (collector) 1002 although the two electric conductors 1001 and 1002 are under the same temperature and pressure conditions. Since the barrier space 1004 is an electrical insulating space without the conventional conductor-based electrical conduction but has a unique property that allows thermal electrons to fly through ballistically, it prevents the excess thermal electrons captured by the collector 1002 from conducting back to the emitter except the minimal back emission from the collector that may be controlled by the asymmetric electron-gating function 1003. As a result, the excess thermal electrons captured by the collector 1002 may accumulate, thermally equilibrate and electrostatically distribute themselves mostly to the collector 1002 electrode surface. Similarly, the excess positive charges (“holes”) left in the emitter may also accumulate and electrostatically distribute themselves mostly to the emitter 1001 electrode surface. This results in the creation of an electric voltage potential difference across the barrier space 1004 between the emitter electrode 1001 and the collector electrode 1102, in a manner that is analogous to the creation of a membrane potential Δψ in proton-coupling bioenergetics systems as expressed in Eq. 2b.
Note, in the cases of localized excess protons, when a protonic load circuit such as an ATP synthase protonic channel/load is provided, the excess protons typically flow through the ATP synthase protonic channel across the membrane to perform work in driving ATP synthesis (as illustrated in
According to one of the various embodiments as shown in
As mentioned above, this phenomenon (
Where F is the Faraday constant; d is the barrier space thickness that is the distance between the emitter and the collector; κ is the barrier space dielectric constant; ϵo is the electric permittivity; and l is the localized excess electron layer thickness.
This equation (Eq. 11a) mathematically explains how the accumulation of excess electron population density [eL−]0 as a result from the capturing of thermally emitted electrons from the emitter by the collector can build the isothermal electricity output voltage Voutput. Consequently, the excess electrons in the collector electrode with such an output voltage Voutput can drive an electric current through an external circuit, which comprises an electric outlet 1107 (−) wire connected with an electrical load 1108 that is connected with another electric wire as electric outlet 1106 (+) back to the emitter 1101 as shown in
When the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator system 1100 is under its “open circuit” condition (such as when the electric load 1108 is removed) as shown in
According to one of the various embodiments, it is a preferred practice to ground the emitter with an Earth ground 1110 at the electricity outlet 1106 (+) terminal as shown in
This asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator system 1100 (
In contrast, for an isothermal electricity generator system such as the one illustrated in
In the conventional temperature gradient-driven thermionic converter, a conducting electrode (emitter) is heated to high temperatures so that it emits electrons (Wanke et al 2017 MRS Bulletin 42: 518-524). These thermionic electrons overcome the electrode's work function and generate a thermionic emission current. It typically requires the emitter being heated by using an external energy/heat source such as focused solar irradiation, intensified chemical combustion, or nuclear decay reaction heat to a temperature as high as 2000K while the collector is cooled to below about 600K using a heat sink (Sandia Report, SAND2004-0555). Air-breathing chemical heat sources, such as common hydrocarbon burners, cannot achieve the desired thermionic temperatures (˜2000K) unless substantial air-preheat is used. That is, the thermionic converter operation is based on an exceptionally high temperature at the emitter with a large temperature difference between the two electrodes (thermionic emitter and collector). The elevated high temperatures required by the thermionic converter impose formidable technical problems concerning the structure of the fuel elements and the means of transferring heat to the converters. The Carnot efficiency here is believed to represent the ultimate efficiency limit (Khalid et al 2016 IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 63: 2231-2241). In contrast, the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator system disclosed in the present invention does not require such an elevated high temperature and is not constrained by the Carnot efficiency, since it can generate electricity by isothermally utilizing the ambient temperature latent heat energy from the surrounding environment without requiring any of such energy-intensive heating and/or cooling energy resources.
According to one of the various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, the asymmetric electron-gating function 1003 (
Previous study suggested that the conventional thermionic generators could be effective, but only at temperatures above 1000K (Hishinuma et al 2001 Applied Physics Letters 78: 2572-2574). In contrast, the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator system can operate isothermally at nearly any temperatures from a freezing temperature such as 253 K (−20° C.), to ambient temperatures around 293 K (20° C.), to an elevated temperature as high as both above and/or below 1000 K where the conventional thermionic generators still cannot effectively operate. According to one of the various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator system is designed to isothermally operate at a temperature or temperature range selected from a group consisting of 193K (−80° C.), 200K (−73° C.), 210K (−63° C.), 220K (−53° C.), 230K (−43° C.), 240K (−33° C.), 250K (−23° C.), 260K (−13° C.), 270K (−3° C.), 273K (0° C.), 278K (5° C.), 283K (10° C.), 288K (15° C.), 293K (20° C.), 298K (25° C.), 303K (30° C.), 308K (35° C.), 313K (40° C.), 318K (45° C.), 323K (50° C.), 328K (55° C.), 333K (60° C.), 338K (65° C.), 343K (70° C.), 348K (75° C.), 353K (80° C.), 363K (90° C.), 373K (100° C.), 383K (110° C.), 393K (120° C.), 403K (130° C.), 413K (140° C.), 423K (150° C.), 433K (160° C.), 453K (180° C.), 473K (200° C.), 493K (220° C.), 513K (240° C.), 533K (260° C.), 553K (280° C.), 573K (300° C.), 623K (350° C.), 673K (400° C.), 723K (450° C.), 773K (500° C.), 823K (550° C.), 873K (600° C.), 923K (650° C.), 973K (700° C.), 1073K (800° C.), 1173K (900° C.), 1273K (1000° C.), 1373K (1100° C.), 1473K (1200° C.), and/or within a range bounded by any two of these values. The words “to isothermally operate” here means that both the emitter and collector are placed at the same temperature and no temperature difference between the emitter and collector is required for the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generation to run in accordance with one of the various embodiments of the present invention.
According to one of the various embodiments, it is critically important to properly select a special low work function conductor to serve as the emitter with consideration of its operating environmental temperature conditions. For example, for an asymmetric function-gated thermal electron power generator system that is designed to operate at a room temperature (around 25° C.), the work function of the emitter is preferably selected to be less than 1.0 eV, more preferably less than 0.8 eV, even more preferably less than 0.7 eV or 0.6 eV, and most preferably less than 0.5 eV. For an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electron power generator system designed to isothermally operate at a higher environmental temperature such as 35° C., 40° C., 50° C., 60° C., 80° C., 100° C., 120° C., 150° C., 200° C. and/or within a range bounded by any two of these values, somewhat higher work function materials may also be selected for use as the emitters. On the other hand, when the intended isothermally operating temperature is significantly lower, such as, at 15° C., 10° C., 5° C., 0° C., −5° C., −10° C., −15° C., −20° C., −30° C., −50° C. and/or within a range bounded by any two of these values, exceptionally low work function materials should be selected for use as the emitters.
According to one of the various embodiments, depending on a given specific application and its associated temperature conditions, system compositions, and the properties of the electrode materials and barrier space such as its thickness, capacitance and other physical chemistry properties, the work function of the emitters for the purpose of extracting environmental heat to generate electricity may be selected from the group consisting of 0.2 eV, 0.3 eV, 0.4 eV, 0.5 eV, 0.6 eV, 0.7 eV, 0.8 eV, 0.9 eV, 1.0 eV, 1.1 eV, 1.2 eV, 1.3 eV, 1.4 eV, 1.5 eV, 1.6 eV, 1.7 eV, 1.8 eV, 1.9 eV, 2.0 eV, 2.1 eV, 2.2 eV, 2.4 eV, 2.6 eV, 2.8 eV, 3.0 eV and/or within a range bounded by any two of these values.
According to one of the various embodiments, the collector electrode 1102 is preferable to have a work function higher than that of its pairing emitter 1101 (
As mentioned before, the work function represents the energy barrier for an electron at the Fermi level from escaping the solid (such as the metal conductor) to free space. The work function commonly comprises two components: a bulk component and a surface component. The dominant one is the bulk component which corresponds to the chemical potential that derives from the electronic density and density of states with relation to the nuclear (positive) charge force in the solid. The surface component (also known as the surface dipole component) originates with a redistribution of charges at the surface of a metal, which give rise to the surface dipole that is generally resulted from the “spill out” of electrons into vacuum over some small distance (Angstroms), creating negative sheet of charges outside the solid and leaving a positive sheet of uncompensated metal ions in the surface and sub-surface atomic planes. It is this double sheet of charges (surface dipoles) that create a potential step which raises the electron potential just out the surface, effectively also raising the electron vacuum energy level at the emitter electrode surface Evac (S). This surface dipole-associated component may correspond to the energy difference between the Evac (S) (the vacuum energy level at the emitter electrode surface) and the Evac (∞) in vacuum space far away from the surface. The surface dipole-associated negative charge could repel an electron away the electrode. Consequently, the electrons leaving the emitter surface could be accelerated towards the collector by this repulsive force from the emitter's surface dipole, which may be beneficial to the isothermal electricity generation. On the other hand, if the collector also has a surface dipole-associated negative charge component that could potentially impede the reception of the electrons emitted from the emitter by repelling them away from the collector surface. Therefore, according to one of the various embodiments, it is a preferred practice to use a collector electrode that has no or minimized surface dipole-associated negative charge component. Alternatively, if there is the surface dipole-associated negative charge component on the collector surface, it needs to be nearly equal to or smaller than that of the emitter surface for the isothermal electricity generator to more efficiently operate. That is, it is beneficial to use a work function that originates predominately from the nuclear (positive) charge force with no or minimal surface dipole-associated negative charge force for the collector to better collect the electrons emitted from the emitter.
It is critically important to properly select a special low work function conductor as the emitter while the collector should have a higher work function predominately from the nuclear (positive) charge force. Table 6 lists various materials with known work function (eV) values, which may be considered for selection to use in making of the emitters and/or collectors in accordance with one of the various embodiments of the present invention.
According to one of the various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is preferred practice to use a special low work function conductor as the emitter electrode while the collector electrode should have a high work function predominately from the nuclear (positive) charge force.
According to one of the various embodiments, the emitter is a layer or film of a special lower work function material 1103 coated on a conductive electrode 1101 while the collector 1109 is a film of higher work function coated on conductive electrode 1102 and/or is simply a plate of higher-work-function conductor. Depending on a given specific isothermal electricity generation application and its associated operating temperature conditions, the emitter material is selected from a group consisting of Ag—O—Cs, Cs2O-coated Ag plate surface, K—O/Si(100), C12A7:e−, K on WTe2, P-doped diamond, Ca24Al28O64, Cs/O doped graphene, Sr1-xBaxVO3, Ba-coated SiC, O—Ba on W, Cs on Pt metal and combinations thereof. Meanwhile, the collector material is selected from a group consisting of platinum (Pt) metal, silver (Ag) metal, gold (Au) metal, copper (Cu) metal, molybdenum (Mo) metal, aluminum (Al) metal, iron (Fe) metal, stainless steel, tungsten, rhenium, molybdenum, niobium, nickel, graphene, graphite, polyaniline film, ZnO metal oxide, ITO metal oxide, FTO metal oxide, 2-dimensional nickel, PEDOT:PSS, protonated-polyaniline film and combinations thereof
According to one of the various embodiments, the materials for making the electric conductors 1191 and 1102 that support the emitter and/or collector, and that may also directly serve as the collector are selected from the group consisting of: heat-conducting electric conductors, heat-conducting metallic conductors, refractory metals, metal alloys, iron metals, stainless steels, aluminum, copper, silver, gold, platinum, molybdenum, conductive MoO3, tungsten, rhenium, molybdenum, niobium, nickel, titanium, graphene, graphite, heat-conducting electrically conductive polymers, polyaniline film, protonated-polyaniline film and combinations thereof Any of these heat-conducting electric conductors and their combinations may be selected to coat on a support material to serve as conductors and collectors as well.
According to one of the various embodiments, it is a preferred practice to employ a conductor with no or minimized surface dipole-associated work function component to serve as a collector electrode to facilitate the collection of the electrons from the emitter. For example, nonpolar organic conductors typically have no significant “spilling” of electrons at the surface and can thus be selected to use as a collector electrode.
A major problem that has been hindering the performance of the conventional thermionic converter is the formation of the static electron space-charge clouds in the inter electrode space (Physics of Plasmas 21, 023510 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4865828). This “space charge problem” is minimized in the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generation system (
According to one of the various embodiments, a series of capacitors can be used across each of pairs of the emitters and the collectors with the isothermal electricity outlets (illustrated in the example of
According to one of the various embodiments, the capacitance across each pair of the emitter and collector is increased by properly narrowing the space separation distance between the emitter surface and the collector surface (illustrated in the example of
On the other hand, the barrier space separation distance between the emitter surface and the collector surface should be big enough (somewhat larger than the electron tunneling distance (2 or 3 nm)) to avoid electricity current leaking loss due to the possible electron tunneling. Considering the surface of a metal as a two-dimensional system, electrons cannot escape, but due to “barrier penetration”, the electron density of a metal actually extends outside the surface of the metal. The distance outside the surface of the metal at which the electron probability density drops to 1/1000 of that just inside the metal is on the order of 0.1 to 1 nanometer (nm) for electron tunneling which is strongly dependent on the distance. The electron tunneling distance is also depending on the property of the materials and barrier space. For example, electron transfer and tunneling can occur between the metal centers in the respiratory enzymes, typically over distances up to 20 or 30 Å (2010 Laser Phys. 20(1): 125-138). It is also known that biological lipid bilayer membrane with a thickness about 4 nm works well as an electric insulating barrier space with a membrane potential voltage difference of about 200 mV. In certain cases, larger barrier space gaps may be also desirable such as for ease of fabrication and certain mechanical operations. Therefore, depending on a given specific application and its associated temperature conditions, system compositions, and the properties of the electrode materials and barrier space, the inter electrode space separation distance (gap size d) across a pair of emitter and collector according to one of the various embodiments is selected from the group consisting of 2 nm, 3 nm, 4 nm, 5 nm, 6 nm. 7, nm, 8nm, 9 nm, 10 nm, 12 nm, 14 nm, 16 nm, 18 nm, 20 nm, 25 nm, 30 nm, 35 nm, 40 nm 45 nm, 50 nm, 60 nm ,70 nm, 80 nm, 100 nm, 120 nm, 140 nm 160 nm, 180 nm, 200 nm, 250 nm, 300 nm, 500 nm, 600 nm, 700 nm, 800 nm, 900 nm, 1000 nm, 1.2 μm, 1.4 μm, 1.6 μm, 1.8 μm, 2.0 μm, 2.5 μm, 3.0 μm, 3.5 μm, 4.0 μm, 4.5 μm, 5.0 μm, 6.0 μm, 7.0 μm, 9.0 μm, 10 μm, 12 μm, 14 μm, 16 μm, 18 μm, 20 μm, 25 μm, 30 μm, 35 μm, 40 μm, 45 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, 80 μm, 90 μm, 100 μm, 120 μm, 140 μm, 160 μm, 180 μm, 200 μm, 250 μm, 300 μm, 400 μm, 500 μm, 600 μm, 700 μm, 800 μm, 900 μm, 1000 μm, 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm, 1.6 mm, 1.8 mm, 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm, 3.0 mm, 4.0 mm, 5.0 mm, 6.0 mm, 7.0 mm, 8.0 mm, 9.0 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 80 mm, 100 mm and/or within a range bounded by any two of these values.
According to one of the various embodiments, a barrier space composition is selected from the group consisting of vacuum space, semi-vacuum space, gaseous space, inertial gas space, special gas space, ballistic-electron-permeable porous material space, perforated two-dimensional (2D) materials, perforated insulator film such as perforated Teflon film, and combinations thereof. When considering to utilize certain special gaseous space, attention should be paid to avoid possible side reactions associated with the gas molecules and properties of the electrodes and space barrier compositions and materials when the electric field formed across the inter electrode space during the isothermal electricity generation could be high enough to cause certain side effects such as the undesirable current leaking, plasma or radical species formation, and O3 generation if the gaseous space containing O2 gas. For many of the applications, it is a preferred practice to use vacuum space as the inter electrode space barrier 1104 (
According to one of the various embodiments, emitter(s) and collector(s) are installed in a vacuum container such as a vacuum electrotube (
According to one of the various embodiments, the interfacing contact/seal between the container wall and the electrode plates and/or electric wires is made with heat-conductive and electrical insulating material(s). Depending on a given specific application and its associated temperature conditions, the interfacing contact/seal material(s) is selected from the group consisting of heat-conductive and electrical insulating plastics, epoxy, polyester resin, air-tight electric-insulating Kafuter 704 RTV silicone gel material, thermoplastic, heat-conductive and electrical insulating ceramics, heat-conductive and electrical insulating glass, highly heat-conductive graphene, graphite, clear plastics, for example, Acrylic (polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA), Butyrate (cellulose acetate butyrate), Lexan (polycarbonate), and PETG (glycol modified polyethylene terephthalate), polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyethylene HD, thermally conductive transparent plastics, heat conductive glues, electric insulating glues, heat conductive paint, electric insulating paint, heat conductive glass, borosilicate glass such as Pyrex glass, sol-gel, silicone gel, silicone rubber, quartz mineral, diamond material, cellulose nanofiber/epoxy resin nanocomposites, carbon fibers composite materials, glass-ceramic materials, transparent ceramics, clear transparent plastics containing anti-reflection materials and/or coating, clear glass containing anti-reflection materials or coatings and combinations thereof.
According to one of the various embodiments, an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises a low work function of Ag—O—Cs coated on an Ag metal electrode surface to serve as an emitter and a high work function of a Cu metallic conductor to serve as a collector in a vacuum condition.
According to one of the various embodiments, a prototype of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises a pair of a low work function Ag—O—Cs film 1203 (coated on a silver electrode 1201 surface) and a high work function Mo metallic conductor 1202 separated by a vacuum space 1204 in a vacuum tube (
According to one of the various embodiments, a prototype of an asymmetric function-gated electrotube system like the one shown in
These predicted features were successfully demonstrated in a preliminary experiment, where an asymmetric function-gated electrotube was placed into a Faraday shielding box made of metal foils and its isothermal electricity generation was measured with a Keithley 6514 system electrometer (Keithley Instruments, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA). When the emitter 1201 was connected with the positive (red) input connector alligator clip of the Keithley 6514 system electrometer while the collector 1202 was connected with the negative (black) input connector alligator clip, a positive electrical current was indeed sensed by the Keithley 6514 electrometer. The steady-state electrical current density normal to the cross-section area of the interelectrode space was measured to be 5.17 pA/cm2. Meanwhile, when the asymmetric function-gated electrotube system and electrometer were connected in the opposite (reverse) orientation, a negative electrical current with comparable amplitude was indeed measured through the Keithley 6514 electrometer. The steady-state electrical current density normal to the cross-section area of the interelectrode space measured in the reverse orientation was −4.50 pA/cm2. The averaged steady-state electrical current density from the absolute values measured in the two orientations was 4.84±0.34 pA/cm2.
Similarly, according to one of the various embodiments, it is predicted that when the emitter 1201 is connected with the positive (red) input connector alligator clip of a Keithley 6514 electrometer while the collector 1202 is connected with the negative (black) input connector alligator clip, it will measure a positive voltage that is generated by the isothermal electricity generating system (
Based on the measured steady-state electrical current density (4.84±0.34 pA/cm2) and steady-state output voltage (about 140 mV), the isothermal electricity power generation density cross-section area of the interelectrode space was calculated to be about 6.78×10−13 Watt/cm2 in this example of an experimental prototype system (
Table 7 presents more examples of experimental data on the isothermal electricity current density of the asymmetric work function-gated electrotubes similar to that of
As shown in Table 7, the isothermal electricity current density averaged from the absolute values measured in both orientations was 3.26, 4.87, and 7.57 pA/cm2 for the asymmetric work function-gated electrotube samples 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The corresponding averaged voltage output was 94, 141 and 218 mV. The isothermal electricity power density calculated as the product of the isothermal electricity current density and corresponding voltage output was 3.07×10−13, 6.90×10−13, and 1.65×10−12 Watt/cm2 for the asymmetric work function-gated electrotube samples 2, 3 and 4, respectively, under the given experimental conditions without any optimization efforts. Therefore, these experimental data and the specific details were intended to show the proof of the principle according to one of the various embodiments and they shall not be viewed as a limit to its performance.
Table 7 lists more examples of experimental data on the isothermal electricity current density (pA/cm2) of asymmetric work function-gated electrotubes similar to that of
According to one of the various embodiments, the asymmetric function-gated thermal electron power generator system 1100 as illustrated in
J
isoT
=AT
2 (e−[WF(e)+e·V(e)]/kT−e−[WF(c)+e·V(c)]/kT) [11b]
Where A is the universal factor (as known as the Richardson-Dushman constant) can be expressed as
[where m is the electron mass, e is the electron unit charge, k is the Boltzmann constant and h is Planck constant]. T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin (K) for both the emitter and the collector; WF(e) is the work function of the emitter surface; the term of e·V(e) is the product of the electron unit charge e and the voltage V(e) at the emitter; k is the Boltzmann constant in (eV/K); WF(c) is the work function of the collector surface; and e·V (c) is the product of the electron unit charge e and the voltage V(c) at the collector.
Of particular significance is that the conversion of environmental thermal energy (latent heat) isothermally to electrical power without the need for an external energy-consuming heater or an exhaust, heat sink or the like, so that the energy efficiency is essentially 100% without being constrained by the second law of thermodynamics.
According to one of the various embodiments, when the voltage at the emitter (V(e)) is zero such as when the emitter is grounded as illustrated in
J
isoT(gnd)
=AT
2(e−[WF(e)]/kT−e−[WF(c)+e·V(c)]/kT) [12]
According to one of the various embodiments, when the voltage at both the emitter (V(e)) and the collector (V(c)) are zero such as at the initial state of an isothermal electricity generation system 1100 as illustrated in
J
isoT(sat)
=AT
2(e−[WF(e)]/kT−e−[WF(c)]/kT) [13]
According to one of the various embodiments, the “open circuit” ideal saturation output voltage (Vsat) at the equilibrium between the emitter and collector terminals (1106 and 1107) as shown in
Where e is the electron charge which is 1 (an electron charge unit); and WF(c) and WF(e) are the collector work function and the emitter work function, respectively, as illustrated in the 1100 (c) of
According to one of the various embodiments, the steady-state operating output voltage (Vst) between the emitter and collector terminals (1106 and 1107) can be expressed as:
V
st
=V
(c)
−V
(e) [15]
Where V(c) and V(e) are the steady-state operating voltages at the collector and emitter, respectively, as illustrated in the 1100 (b)
According to one of the various embodiments, the ideal saturation electrical current (Isat) across the inter electrode space between the emitter and collector as shown in
I
sat
=S·J
isoT(sat)
=S·AT
2(e−[WF(e)]/kT−e−[WF(c)]/kT) [16]
According to one of the various embodiments, the ideal steady-state operating electrical current (Ist) through the electrical load 1108 as shown in
Where Rl is the resistance of the electrical load and Rm is any possible miscellaneous resistance from the circuit including the electrodes and wire materials; Vst is the steady-state operating output voltage as of Eq. [15].
According to one of the various embodiments, the effect of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generating activity is additive. That is, the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems like the one shown in
V
st(total)=Σi=1n Vst(i)Σi=1n(V(c)i−V(e)i) [18]
Similarly, the total saturation output voltage (Vsat(total)) is the summation of the saturation output voltages (Vsat(i) as of Eq. [14]) from each of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems operating in series:
According to one of the various embodiments, when pluralities (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems are used in the parallel, the total ideal electrical current (Isat(total)) is the summation of the ideal electrical current (Isat(i) as of Eq. [16]) from each of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems:
Therefore, the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity production is additive. Pluralities (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems may be used in parallel and/or in series, depending on a given specific application and its associated operating conditions such as temperature conditions, and the properties of the barrier spaces such as their thickness and compositions, the properties of the emitter and collector electrodes and other physical chemistry properties.
When a plurality (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems operate in parallel, the total steady-state electrical current (Ist(total)) is the summation of the steady-state electrical current (Ist(i)) from each of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems while the total steady-state output voltage (Ist(total)) remains the same.
When a plurality (n) of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems operate in series, the total steady-state output voltage (Vst(total)) is the summation of the steady-state output voltages (Vst(i)) from each of the asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator systems while the total steady-state electrical current (Ist(total)) remains the same.
As shown in
Table 8 lists the ideal isothermal electricity current density (A/cm2) values as a function of operating temperature T in a range from 203 K (−70° C.) to 673 K (400° C.) at a number of output voltage V(c) values including 0.00, 1.50, 3.00, 3.50, 3,80 and 3.86 V, as calculated using Eq. 12 for a pair of emitter work function (WF(e)=0.70 eV) and collector work function (WF(c)=4.56 eV, copper Cu(110)) where the emitter was grounded. The data showed that, with a reasonable output voltage V(c) of about 3 V, the isothermal electricity current density is strongly dependent on temperature T in a range from 2.07×10−11(A/cm2) at 203 K (−70° C.) to 1.55×10−5 (A/cm2) at 298K (25° C.), and to as much as 311 (A/cm2) at 673 K (400° C.). Table 8 presents the examples of the ideal isothermal electricity current density (A/cm2) as a function of operating temperature T at various output voltage V(c) from 0.00 to 3.86 V, calculated using Eq. 12 for a pair of emitter work function (WF(e) =0.70 eV) and collector work function (WF(c)=4.56 eV, copper Cu(110)). The emitter was grounded and the output voltage V(c) is the voltage difference between the collector and the grounded emitter.
According to one of the various embodiments, when the emitter is grounded, the ideal isothermal electricity power production density PisoT(gnd)(W/cm2) at various output voltage V(c) volts can be expressed as:
P
isoT(gnd)
=AT
2(e−[WF(e)]/kT−e−[WF(c)+e·V(c)]/kT) V(c) [21]
Table 9 list the ideal isothermal electricity power production density defined as Watt (W) per square centimeters (W/cm2) as a function of operating temperature T in a range from 203 K (−70° C.) to 673 K (400° C.) at a number of output voltage V(c) values including 0.00, 1.50, 3.00, 3.50, 3,80 and 3.86 V, as calculated using Eq. 21 for a pair of emitter work function (WF(e)=0.70 eV) and collector work function (WF(c)=4.56 eV, copper Cu(110)) where the emitter was grounded. The data showed that the output voltage V(c) that gave the best isothermal electricity power production density (W/cm2) was about 3.50 V in this example. The isothermal power production density (W/cm2) at output voltage V(c) of 3.50 V is strongly dependent on temperature T, which is in a range from 7.24×10−11(W/cm2) at 203 K (−70° C.) to 5.41×10−5 (W/cm2) at 298K (25° C.), and to as much as 1090 (W/cm2) at 673 K (400° C.). Table 9 presents the examples of the ideal isothermal electricity power production density defined as Watt (W) per square centimeters (W/cm2) as a function of operating temperature T at various output voltage V(c) from 0.00 to 3.86 V, calculated using Eq. 21 for a pair of emitter work function (WF(e)=0.70 eV) and collector work function (WF(c)=4.56 eV, copper Cu(110)) where the emitter is grounded.
According to one of the various embodiments, it is a preferred practice to employ: a first capacitor 1361 connected in between the first and second electric conductor plates 1301 and 1302; a second capacitor 1362 linked in between the second and third conductor plates 1302 and 1321; a third capacitor 1363 used in between third and the fourth conductor plates 1321 and 1332 as illustrated in
According to one of the various embodiments, the isothermal electricity of the 1300 system (
The isothermal electricity generator system 1400A (
As shown in Table 6, the work function of Mo film is about 4.36 eV and the work function of Ag—O—Cs film can be made to be anywhere between 0.5 and 1.2 eV. In the example with the isothermal electricity generator system 1400A, the work function of Ag—O—Cs film was selected to be 0.7 eV for use as the emitter while the work function of Mo film was 4.36 eV for use as the collector as illustrated in
The isothermal electricity generator system 1400B (
Furthermore, this system 1400B is designed to provide an option to deliver the isothermal electricity through the outlet terminals1476 and 1477, leaving the V(c) voltage (about 3.5 V) generated by the first pair of emitter (Ag—O—Cs film 1403) and collector (Mo film/plate 1409) to serves as a bias voltage for the second emitter (Ag—O—Cs film 1423 on the second conductor plate 1402 right side surface) to more readily emit thermal electrons towards the terminal collector (Mo film/plate 1439) of the third conductor plate 1432. Sometimes, use of this option can help better extract environmental heat energy especially when the operating environmental temperature is relatively low or when the work function of certain emitters alone may not be low enough to function effectively. When the isothermal electricity is delivered through the outlet terminals 1476 and 1477, the steady-state operating output voltage is typically about 3.5 V in this example.
As illustrated in
When the isothermal electricity is delivered through outlet terminals 1406 and 1477 across three pairs of emitters and collectors, according to Eq. 18, the steady-state operating output voltage typically can be as high as about 10.5 V. However, the total saturation isothermal electricity current density (at output voltage of 10.5 V) remains to be about 1.55×10−5 (A/cm2) at the standard ambient temperature of 298 K (25° C.) in this example.
More importantly, when the isothermal electricity is delivered through the outlet terminals 1476 and 1477, the activity of the first emitter (1401 with Ag—O—Cs film 1403) and the first collector (Mo film/plate 1409) can be used to generate a V(c) of about 3.5 V to serves as a bias voltage for the second emitter (Ag—O—Cs film 1423) on the surface of the second conductor plate 1402. In this way, the second emitter (Ag—O—Cs film 1423) will more readily emit thermal electrons towards the second collector (Mo film/plate 1429) of the third conductor plate 1421. Subsequently, the enhanced generation of V(c) at the third collector 1429 of the third conductor plate 1421 can serve as a bias voltage for the third emitter to more readily emit thermal electrons towards the terminal collector 1439 at the fourth conductor plate 1432. Therefore, use of this special feature can help better extract environmental heat energy especially when the operating environmental temperature is relatively low or when the work function of certain emitters alone may not be entirely low enough to function effectively. When the isothermal electricity is delivered through the outlet terminals 1476 and 1477, the steady-state operating output voltage can typically be about 7 V according to Eq. 18. The total saturation isothermal electricity current density (at output voltage of 7 V) remains to be about 1.55×10−5 (A/cm2) at the standard ambient temperature of 298 K (25° C.) in this example.
According to one of the various embodiments, the system capacitance for a pair of parallel emitter and collector plates is inversely dependent on their separation distance (d). It is a preferred practice to increase the capacitance across each pair of emitter and collector by properly narrowing the space separation distance (d) between the emitter surface and the collector surface to a selected space gap size in a range from as big as 100 mm to as small as in a micrometer and/or sub-micrometer scale based on specific application and operation conditions. In this way, the need of using external capacitors may be eliminated. Furthermore, use of a narrow (micrometer and/or sub-micrometer) space gap between the emitter and the collector may also help to limit the formation of the static electron space-charge clouds in the inter electrode space for better system performance.
The integrated isothermal electricity generator system 1500 (
According to one of the various embodiments, it is a preferred practice to use an asymmetric function-gated thermal electron power generator system in an orientation with its emitter facing down and its collector is placed at the lower position facing up so that it can utilize gravity to better collect the thermally emitted electrons from the emitter placed at a higher position as illustrated in
For examples, some of the emitted electron may have quite limited kinetic energy that may not be sufficient to overcome the repulsion force of the collector electrode's surface electrons to immediately enter the collection electrode. The use of gravitational pull provides two effects that benefit the collection of the electrons from the emission electrode. First, it can, in some extent, help accelerate the electrons from the emitter more quickly move down into the collector. The second effect is to help localize some of these emitted electrons at (and/or near) the interface between the collector surface and the vacuum space by the use of gravitational force in this manner. Similarly as demonstrated previously with localized protons, use of localized electron population density may enhance the utilization of environmental heat to benefit the thermal electron power generation. For instance, since free electrons including these at the interface between the collector surface and the vacuum space can gain additional kinetic energy by absorbing infrared radiation from the environment, an enhanced concentration of localized electrons at (and/or near) the interface between the vacuum space and the collection electrode surface enhances the probability for localized electrons to utilize their thermal motion energy to finally enter the collector electrode. After an electron enters into the collector electrode that typically has a relatively higher work function, its contribution to the thermal electron power production is essentially certain regardless of its initial kinetic energy before or after the entry.
According to one of the various embodiments, this special energy technology process for generating useful Gibbs free energy from utilization of electron thermal motion energy associated with localized electrons has a special feature that its local electron motive force (emf) generated from its special utilization of environmental heat energy may be calculated according to the following equation:
Where R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temperature, F is Faraday's constant, [eL−] is the concentration of localized electrons at the vicinity of the collector electrode surface near/at the interface between the collector surface and the vacuum space, and [eB−] is the electron concentration in the bulk vacuum space.
With this Eq. 22, it is now, for the first time, understood that this local emf is a logarithmic function of the ratio of localized electron concentration [eL−] at the interface to the delocalized electron concentration [eB−] in the bulk vacuum space. Proper application of this local emf may facilitate the entry of thermal electrons near/at a gap space—collector surface interface into the collector in accordance with one of the various embodiments. For example, the use of positive-charged molecular functional group-modified collector surface and/or the use of gravitational force may bring the emitted electrons to the gap space-collector surface interface forming local emf there that may help overcome the collector surface-dipole barrier to facilitate the entry of thermal electrons into the collector for enhanced isothermal electricity production.
According to one of the various embodiments, the effect of the isothermal electricity production is additive. Depending on a given specific application and its associated operating conditions such as temperature conditions, and the properties of the barrier space such as its thickness and composition, the emitter and collector electrodes and other physical chemistry properties, the number of emitter-collector pairs that may be used per integrated system as shown in
The integrated isothermal electricity generator system 1600 (
According to one of the various embodiments, during the isothermal electricity generation, an effective emitter such as those in the systems 1300, 1400, 1500 and 1600 absorbs environmental heat from the outside environment and utilizes the environmental heat energy to emit electrons as shown in
The integrated isothermal electricity generator system 1600 (
According to one of the various embodiments, the collector surface is engineered by adding certain positively charged molecular structure such as protonated amine groups on the surface. Protonated (poly)aniline which has protonated amine groups (positive charges) on its surface made by the protonation process using the electrostatically localized excess protons as disclosed in WO2017/007762 A1 and US 2017/0009357 A1 is selected for use as a collector electrode in this embodiment.
According to one of the various embodiments, the positively charged groups such as the protonated amine groups on the collector electrode surface provide a number of beneficial effects on facilitating the collection of electrons emitted from the emitter electrode: 1) Attracting the electrons emitted from the emitter electrode, which results in an enhanced concentration of localized electron cloud [eL−] at the vicinity of the collector electrode surface and thus enable better utilization of additional environmental heat energy according to Eq. 22 to facilitate the entry of the vacuum electrons into the collector electrode for power generation; 2) Neutralizing negative surface dipole (if any) for the collector electrode surface; and 3) Counter balancing the negative electric surface potential resulted from the accumulation of the collected electrons in the collector electrode for more power storage.
According to one of the various embodiments, an isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises low work function of Ag—O—Cs and high work function of Cu metal.
When the isothermal electricity is delivered through outlet terminals 1806 and 1837 across two pairs of emitters and collectors, the maximum total steady-state operating output voltage of the system 1800B (
According to one of the various embodiments, an isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises low work function of Ag—O—Cs and high work function of Au metal.
According to one of the various embodiments, an isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises low work function of doped-graphene and high work function of graphite.
According to one of the various embodiments, an isothermal electrons-based environmental heat energy utilization system comprises low work function of doped-graphene and high work function of graphene.
According to one of the various embodiments, any of the isothermal electricity generator systems disclosed here may be modified for various applications. For examples, a typical smart mobile phone device such as iPhone 6 consumes about 10.5 Watt-hours per day (24 hours). Use of certain isothermal electricity generator systems disclosed in this invention may enable to produce a new generation of smart mobile electronic devices that can utilize the latent (existing hidden) heat energy from the ambient temperature environment to power the devices without requiring the conventional electrical power sources. For instance, use of an asymmetric function-gated isothermal electricity generator system disclosed here with a chip size of about 40 cm2 that has a 3 V isothermal electricity output of 200 mA as a forever power source may be sufficient to continuously power a smart mobile phone device.
According to one of the various embodiments, a highly optimized isothermal electricity generator system such as the integrated isothermal electricity generator system 1900 that employs an exceptionally low work function of Ag—O—Cs (0.5 eV) and a high work function of Au metal (5.10 eV) illustrated in
As presented in
According to one of the various embodiments, an asymmetric function-gated optimized isothermal electricity generator system that has a pair of an exceptionally low work function Ag—O—Cs (0.5 eV) emitter and a high work function graphene (4.60 eV) collector is employed to provide the novel cooling for a new type of freezer/refrigerator without requiring any of the conventional refrigeration mechanisms of compressor, condenser, evaporator and/or radiator by isothermally extracting environmental heat energy from inside the freezer/refrigerator while generating isothermal electricity.
Furthermore, use of certain isothermal electricity generator systems according to one of the various embodiments can produce electricity by utilizing the waste heat from wide varieties of waste heat sources including (but not limited to) the waste heat from electrical devices such as computers, motor vehicles engines, air-conditioner heat exchange systems, combustion-based power plants, combustion systems, heat-based distillation systems, nuclear power plants, geothermal heat sources, solar heat, and waste heat from photovoltaic panels.
The following methods and steps were employed in fabricating these CsOAg—Cu prototype electrobottles (
Therefore, although the metal screws/nuts were in contact with the supporting aluminum sheet plates as shown in
The isothermal electricity generation activity in each prototype CsOAg—Cu electrobottle was measured with a Keithley 6514 electrometer (Keithley Instruments, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, USA) as shown in
As shown in
A number of prototype CsOAg—Cu electrobottles were experimentally tested for their isothermal electricity production performance. Table 10 presents examples of experimental isothermal electricity production results from a prototype isothermal electricity generator (electrobottle sample “CsOAg—Cu 1”) in comparison with a control electrobottle sample “CK Ag—Cu” as tested at 23° C. with Keithley 6514 system electrometer. The control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu” has the same structure as that of the electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” except that the Ag plate surface of the control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu” was not coated with any cesium oxide (Cs2O). The Amps measurement procedure with Keithley 6514 electrometer's zero check and zero (baseline) correction (CZ) was used in testing 1) the electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1”, 2) the Keithley 6514 system's Model 237-ALG-2 low noise cable with three alligator clips (no electrobottle device), and 3) the control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu”. Based on the experimental measurements with 12 readings from the Keithley 6514 system electrometer, the isothermal electric current from electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” was measured to be 11.17±0.08 pico amps (pA), which is well above the electrometer baseline signal of 0.071±0.17 pA as measured with Keithley 6514 system's Model 237-ALG-2 low noise cable with three alligator clips (no electrobottle device). The control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu” gave an electric current reading of −0.360±0.005 pA, which is quite different from that (11.17±0.08 pA) of electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1”. Therefore, these experimental results quite clearly demonstrated the isothermal electricity production in the prototype electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1”.
When the isothermal electricity from the prototype electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” was measured in reverse polarity (Keithley 6514 system's Model 237-ALG-2 low noise cable black alligator connector to CsOAg plate (a type of Ag—O—Cs emitter) and red alligator connector to Cu plate), the isothermal electric current was measured to be −10.77±0.17 pA, which is quite different from that (0.220±0.003 pA) of the control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu” when measured also in its reverse polarity (see “rev, pA.CZ” in Table 10). Therefore, these experimental results also quite clearly demonstrated the isothermal electricity production activity in the prototype electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” as expected.
Note, the isothermal electron flux (JisoT) normal to the surfaces of the emitter and collector (also named as the isothermal electricity current density) can be calculated as the ratio of the isothermal electric current (11.17±0.08 pA) to the CsOAg plate surface area (4.0×4.6=18.4 cm2). As listed in Table 10, the electricity current density across the CsOAg plate surface area in electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” was determined to be 0.607 pA/cm2 in its normal polarity and −0.586 pA/cm2 when measured with its reverse polarity. By taking their absolute values, the averaged electricity current density in electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” was calculated to be 0.596 pA/cm2. Based on this isothermal electron flux (JisoT) of 0.596 pA/cm2 at 23° C., the work function of the CsOAg emitter plate surface in electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” was estimated to be about 1.1 eV in this example.
Table 10 presents the experimental isothermal electricity production results from a prototype isothermal electricity generator (electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1”) in comparison with a control electrobottle “CK Ag—Cu” as tested at 23° C. with Keithley 6514 electrometer's zero check and zero (baseline) correction (CZ) functions.
Table 11 presents the experimental isothermal electricity production results from another prototype isothermal electricity generator (electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu”) measured as a function of operating temperature. The standard methods of Amps and voltage measurements with Keithley 6514 electrometer's zero check and zero (baseline) correction (CZ) were used in testing this prototype “(3) CsOAg—Cu” electrobottle. Based on 12 measurement readings from Keithley 6514 system electrometer, the isothermal electric current from electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” at 20.5° C., 23° C. and 25° C. was measured to be 2.12±0.03 pA, 5.81±0.03 pA and 7.35±0.02 pA, respectively. This experimental result demonstrated that isothermal electricity production can indeed increase dramatically with the rising of environmental temperature as expected.
Table 11 presents the experimental isothermal electricity production results from a prototype isothermal electricity generator (electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu”) measured as a function of operating temperature at 20.5° C., 23° C. and 25° C. with Keithley 6514 electrometer's zero check and zero (baseline) correction (CZ) functions.
When the isothermal electricity from electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” was measured in reverse polarity (Keithley 6514 system's Model 237-ALG-2 low noise cable black alligator connector to CsOAg plate (a type of Ag—O—Cs emitter) and red alligator connector to Cu collector plate), the isothermal electric current was measured to be −7.43±0.03 pA (Table 11), somewhat similar to that observed in electrobottle “CsOAg—Cu 1” (Table 10).
According to the measurements with 12 readings from Keithley 6514 system electrometer, the isothermal electric voltage output from electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” at 25° C. was measured to be 54.2±0.8 mV (Table 11). Based on the isothermal electric voltage (54.2±0.8 mV) and isothermal electric current (7.35±0.02 pA) as measured at 25° C., the isothermal electricity power output was calculated to be 3.98×10−13 Watts for the electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” prototype device in this example.
As listed in Table 11, the electricity current density across the CsOAg plate surface area in electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” was measured to be 0.399 pA/cm2 with normal polarity and −0.404 pA/cm2 when measured with reverse polarity. By taking the absolute values, the averaged electricity current density in electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” was calculated to be 0.402 pA/cm2. Based on this experimentally determined isothermal electron flux (JisoT) of 0.402 pA/cm2 at 25° C., the work function of the CsOAg emitter plate surface in electrobottle “(3) CsOAg—Cu” was estimated to be about 1.1 eV.
While the present invention has been illustrated by description of several embodiments and while the illustrative embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the invention claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicant's general inventive concept.
This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US2019/012002 filed on Jan. 1, 2019, which claims priority and benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/613,912 filed on Jan. 5, 2018. This application is also a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/237,681 filed on Jan. 1, 2019 that is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/202,214 filed on Jul. 5, 2016 and that also claims priority and benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/613,912 filed on Jan. 5, 2018. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2019/012002 | 1/1/2019 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16237681 | Jan 2019 | US |
| Child | 16960082 | US | |
| Parent | 15202214 | Jul 2016 | US |
| Child | 16237681 | US | |
| Parent | 62613912 | Jan 2018 | US |
| Child | 15202214 | US |
